According to Sky News, Partners Group, which acquired Côte out of administration for £55m in September 2020, is considering providing millions of pounds of new capital to finance a turnaround plan for the business, which would be likely to involve the closure of loss-making sites.
It follows reports back in July that Partners Group had brought in Interpath Advisory to sound out new investors for the modern French-inspired restaurant brand.
Sky News says a number of those discussions are said to be ongoing.
Sources close to the sale process said that Interpath was marketing Côte based on a turnover of over £150m taken from its most recent financial year, the results of which are yet to be published on Companies House.
The group currently trades from 70 restaurants.
Partners Group and Interpath declined to comment.
Earlier this year, Côte appointed Emma Dinnis as its new chief executive.
Dinnis joined the French restaurant chain from Sofology, where she had been managing director for the past three years.
In its most recent published accounts for the year ended 24 September 2023, Côte achieved like-for-like growth of 1.3%.
The group reported total revenue of £148.9m for the period, with an adjusted EBITDA loss of £8.3m.